The Tales of Kodoz

[kodoz]

Kodoz was always exceedingly wary here. But who isn’t? Everyone is wary when they go into destard. Because it is all so easy to become dragon snacks and drake meals and wyvern pickings. Destard was always crowded, for those who are money hungry are always after the dragons’ treasure. Kodoz was a little different. Regardless of his skill or expertise he knew his limitations. With archery he might take out a dragon if he could get it alone. But he knew mano y drago combat was effectively suicide. With their extensive spell casting abilities and their immense physical strength dragons were a force to be reckoned with. Kodoz came here to scavenge. Someone is always leaving leather, gold, gems, and/or scales behind. As long as you give them first pick of treasure it isn’t a dishonorable thing. Kodoz didn’t mess with the dragons, choosing to heal or scavenge during his time here. He would only mess with dragons with either fellow attackers or with lots of arrows and time. But he couldn’t have that time as Destard belonged to others. The bards, able to use their musical abilities to provoke two monsters to attack each other made a formidable foe for any two dragons. The tamers, commanders of awesome beasts of the lands, able to command their own dragons and tame new dragons. And the Mages, wielders of the power hidden within the secret words. That was who owned Destard. There were drawbacks to these professions. The mages almost never have any good physical armor. The tamers can wear decent armor but they have to use magery and can only control a few creatures at a time. The provokers are only useful if you have at least two monsters as they can’t provoke a solitary creature. Warriors lack the abilities of powerful magic but wore the kind of armor that could defend against multiple physical attacks from most creatures.  But Kodoz wasn’t the only scavenger, and many weren’t as honorable. Some would lead monsters to someone they didn’t like and would go invisible making the monsters target the other person. For multiple instances of this cowardly offense one could be exiled from the lands of Sosaria forever, or be put in jail for a time. As Kodoz was looking through the corpses of dragons and drakes for things left behind a fellow scavenger was nearly dead and ran to Kodoz, pleading for his help. Kodoz assented that he could distract the dragon for a time but not forever. The dragons health was around 1/10 of its total. Kodoz knew he could do it. The reward Kodoz got from thinking too much were the smokey charred marks on his armor from the dragons breath. Kodoz drew the line. Nothing breathed fire on Kodoz and expected to get away scot-free. There was Hades to pay. Kodoz furiously charged the towering dragon and began a series of quick and powerful slashes and thrusts with his kryss, and then got hurled away as the dragon lifted one foot and playfully batted him without claws. Kodoz now knew he had dislocated his left arm, and it was going numb as Kodoz slowly slumped to the ground. This was not good. But the creature could have killed him so was lucky to be alive. His kryss had flown from his hands when he was swatted and in the dim light of the cavern he couldn’t find it. As he muttered vows of vengeance on the creature he forced himself to calm down. The easiest way to lose a fight is to lose self control. He still had a chance, since he still had a bow and around 4 daggers and an agapite mace. The creature slowly but relentlessly trudged toward him, a blur of movement in the darkness. Kodoz couldn’t continue this fight with his left arm still dislocated at the shoulder and gritted his teeth for the pain it would cost to pop his arm back into joint. He pushed against the smooth stone and put his shoulder back into place but nearly fainted from the sheer agony of it. He still wouldn’t have full use of his left arm for a bit but now it wouldn’t get any worse. By now the dragon was nearly upon him, and it tapped him with its tail sending Kodoz skidding through the dirt and dust on the floor, stopping when he collided with a stalagmite and getting the wind knocked out from him. Kodoz was in pain all over and saw that the guy he was helping was still not finished recovering his items he had lost. Kodoz had given his word and wasn’t going to break it. Kodoz pulled out a single dagger and hurled it with his good right arm at the creatures neck, watching with dismay as it bounced off and thudded to the ground. He pulled out two more daggers and waited for the creature to open its mouth to roar at him, and threw these two daggers straight to the back of its throat. Unfortunately the dragon used its fiery breath to melt these two daggers. Kodoz pulled out his bow and notched, drew, aimed, released, 10 times and hurt the beast some, but it was slowly regaining its health. He had one last chance, which was to hurl his final dagger at its eye. His dagger hit its mark, and with a deafening wail of pain and rage the creature left Kodoz clapping his hands over his ears from the extreme volume of the bellow. Kodoz collapsed gasping with the throbbing pain in his ears, and realized with shock and horror that the monstrosity still lived. It was now running full tilt at him with its mouth wide open ready to make a bite sized snack out of Kodoz. Kodoz did the only thing he could do when life charges you like a bull. Take it by the horns and ride it out. Kodoz surged forward and sprang forward onto his hands to attempt to handspring onto the creatures back, but his shoulder shrieked in pure torture and his movement was far stronger than he was hoping, and instead of landing on its back he was flung onto its head and he slipped, hanging on only by its ears from his injured shoulder, in hideous anguish and torment and he dragged himself onto its head. The creature tried to knock him off by pivoting its neck left and right, tilting it up and down, but Kodoz refused to be beaten. He snatched the dagger from its left eye and stabbed it in its right eye, and the dragon jerked to the side and then went limp but had knocked Kodoz off when it jerked and Kodoz hit the ground on his hands and knees. He walked back over, retrieved his dagger, got its leather and scales and gold, and then walked over to the man he had helped, who thanked him greatly and searched and returned his kryss, along with a bit of payment which Kodoz refused as he got the dragons loot. Kodoz slowly strode out of the cave and into the sunlight outside….

[kodoz]

We join our subjects at the area beneath the largest swamp in the lands, where lies Olympus, home to the Purple Guardians of Honor. Talking inside the Decurions’ office are Steel Darknight, Current Decurion, and Dragoon Phalynx Kodoz.

“So how would you feel about doing some scouting on the savage encampment beneath the dungeon Destards’ entrance?” Steel queried.

“Alone, or with others?” Kodoz replied.

“Well, I shall go with you if you’d like.” Steel offered.

“I would need an ally against the overwhelmingly numerous savage tribes so I will have to take you up on that offer.” Kodoz stated.

“Do you have a rune I could cast recall from?” pondered Steel.

“Of course. I always have plenty of runes”, he responded, handing Steel a rune.

“Kal Ort Por”, Steel casted as he recalled.

“Kal Ort Por”, Kodoz casted as he recalled.

…And so they arrive at the edge of the savage encampment, and go over tactics quickly, and make a battle plan. They both then slink into the murky swamp and are quickly seemingly eaten by the swamp. As we hear the noises of rats, gorillas, and alligators there is suddenly a howl of pain. The source of the howl was a now deceased Savage, their perimeter scout.

“Steel, I have an idea.” Whispered Kodoz.

“Oh boy. This could be bad” joked Steel.

“You know those things they throw at you to knock you from your mount? Lets use those as weapons” He muttered.

“Doesn’t work Kodoz. Nice try though.” Steel mumbled.

“There must be a way…Of course! The castle over there!”, Kodoz points out of view, “if one of us stays inside and the other lures enemies in we can isolate them and take them out one by one. Any thoughts?” Kodoz grinned.

“Great idea. Only one problem.” Steel sighed.

“and whats that?” Kodoz questioned.

“It will work on the guild hunt. But we arent here to hunt. We are scouts. Remember your not always trying to slaughter every monster you see Kodoz” Steel smirked.

Kodoz made a downtrodden facial expression and then found a way he would still get to slaughter monsters.

“How about I go and get them all to chase me and in the meantime you survey their base here?” Kodoz proposed.

“Finally you got an idea without problems. Except I don’t know if you can take on 30 savages at once.” Steel stated.

Kodoz merely reached into his pouch and pulled out explosion potions one by one. He put them back except for one and was tossing it up and down catching it. Steel smiled, and Kodoz went. Instantly the near silent swamp became an ocean of sound. Screams and shouts and wails and cries of fright, surprise, death, anger, rage, confusion, and pain filled the air all around Steel. Steel then went towards the camp.

As we rejoin Kodoz we find him setting up some traps for the savages behind him. He tore a piece of string from his cape and used it as a rope to tie 3 potions each to 20 homemade bolas. He had brought 100 potions, and 60 would be used for these. As the first savage came into view Kodoz whirled the makeshift bola around and then let it fly with unerring accuracy. The look of surprise on the savages face gave Kodoz the satisfaction in knowing he never saw it coming. As he saw the next few he started using bolas over and over, taking out 20 of the 30 savages with them. Now he could beat them easy. He had taken out the mages and the riders and the only ones left were the weaker scouts. He let three of them engage him in duels and dispatched them with relative ease. He hurled a tribal spear through one of the savages facemasks, and then through his face. Now he was agitated. He noticed reinforcements and moving shadows through the murky fog. Suddenly he was grabbed from behind by one savage while another started pummeling him. He jerked his head back, his bone helmet thudding against the savages skull, instantly breaking the savages nose and knocking him into unconsciousness. Now he was able to distinguish which types of reinforcements were coming. He then realized that those weren’t savages coming but were lizardmen. Great, Kodoz thought, now the savages and lizardmen are allies. He knew that lizardmen weren’t very strong or smart but they did have numbers. Kodoz still had 40 greater explosion potions though. If he played his cards right he could pill this off quickly. He wondered how much longer Steel would be, as he pulled out a scroll containing the spell of Paralyze Field, and casted it in between two trees, then cast Invisibility on the field, and then shouted and hurled 2 Potions at the Lizardmen approaching. He removed 3 of the creatures with the potions, and they all now ran straight at him. Right into the invisible Paralysis Field, and then they were in his trap. Unable to run they stared in mute horror as Kodoz calmly pulled out the remaining 38 potions and then tied all of them together, and hurled his ultrabolo at the center of the mass of Lizardmen. The Explosion was so strong that the two trees were smoking stumps in the ground, and all the grass was gone and about a foot deep hole was in the place the Lizardmen were. So strong even that Kodoz immediately clapped his hands to his ears from the noise and it still made him temporarily deaf, and he was hurled backwards through the air and he hit the mud and skidded, his armor slightly scorched and very soot covered. His white bone helmet was now a blackish color. The noise must have been audible for at least a mile. Kodoz made a mental note to never try that again as his deafness faded to give way to a blaring ringing noise in his ears. He had no idea it could have been anywhere near that powerful a blast. As he pulled himself up off the ground he could feel certain places that were gonna have blisters from all that heat. As he was walking towards the camp he shook his head once or twice to try and get rid of the ringing noise but to no avail. He saw Steel coming towards him and Kodoz smirked mischeviously. Steel sighed at Kodoz’ appearance and Kodoz walked back by way of the huge explosion. When it came into Steels line of sight Steels’ jaw dropped, dumbstruck at the huge crater. Steel slowly turned and looked at Kodoz who was grinning widely, very satisfied. Steel said “I’m afraid to ask this but why how and with what did you do that?!?!?” as he pointed a finger towards the blasted area. Kodoz was still unable to hear him clearly due to the ringing in his ears and hoped he could try and keep it unknown how it had affected his hearing. So Kodoz shrugged and said, “Gotta take extreme measures sometimes.” Steel merely sighed once more, shaking his head slightly, and then recalled out, back to Olympus, as Kodoz recalled to his house to wait for his hearing to fully return…

[kodoz]

Kodoz was thinking that this should be interesting. Right now he was in wrong, the final Brittanian Juka stronghold. Home to Juka Lords, mages, warriors, and golems. Truly a formidable foe for our fearsome fighter, but enough to fight and have good bragging rights. As he stalked his elusive enemy, every sound was silenced, he hardly breathed. With a Juka Lord you usually have one chance to take it down without taking forever. As Kodoz snuck up on the Juka he very quietly got out his agapite mace, and advanced on his prey. The Juka Lord never saw it coming. In one swing of the mace the Juka was down and out. “Crushing defeat” mumbled Kodoz with a smirk. This was when Kodoz never saw it coming. Somehow a golem had silently advanced on him and stomped on the ground, knocking the warrior onto the floor from the shockwave. Kodoz put his mace back into his bag, and took his kryss from its sheath. He dove past the golem, and did a leaping backflip slicing open the golems fuel lines and wires. As it hit the ground it caught on fire. This time he noticed the menace behind him by seeing the reflection on  the golems gleaming metal sides. He could’ve taken it out at its current location but would rather be dramatic and wait for the last second and never turn around but just stick his kryss through the Jukas chest. He then saw one behind him and infront of him who both charged him at once. Kodoz pulled out his special kryss and brandished one in both hands. He parried all the thrusts, feints, and slashes of the two Juka warriors, fighting like a furious storm, never taking any damage. He kept up his defense and succeeded in pushing one Juka to the side as he turned around and blocked a massive overhead swing by the Juka closest to him using both krysses. He then reversed the grip, cutting the Juka blade in half and smirking. The look on the Jukas face was alone enough to make Kodoz fight them. He knew this juka really didn’t expect things to go this way. As the Juka began to run he hurled one kryss with all his might, hurtling it straight at the Juka. The Juka fell, impaled as Kodoz quickly turned and blocked a furious thrust. He got the feeling that this particular Juka didn’t like him. He would like him even less if he had seen the poisoned dagger at Kodoz’ kryss sheath. Kodoz blocked his next attack and then stabbed him with the poisoned dagger, and the Juka instantly went into convulsions and spasms from the lethal poisons. The Juka mages were the ones he was wary of though, as they can do the most damage and heal themselves and others. They were top priority to kill. He was lucky that he hadn’t run into any of them when he was fighting the others as they could have caused his defeat easily. He wondered where the mages were. He was unable to find more Jukas, so he recalled to the Solen hole and went in….

[kodoz]

As Kodoz approached the Solen Hole a warrior and giant beetle sprung forth to attack him. Choosing the better part of valor Kodoz dove between them down into the hole. Landing on the ground with a very soft noise, the warrior warily traversed the hidden passages, past antlions, Solen workers, Solen warriors, and Solen Queens. He now dove through yet another hole and found himself face to face with the Solen Matriarch, which neither attacked him nor seemed to care about him. Kodoz had heard a rumor that giving a seed to matriarch would begin you on an assignment from her. He tossed the seed at her and she immediately gobbled it down hungrily, and then regarded Kodoz with a bit of kindness. She then spoke, in a strange clicking voice. “Than(Clik) you human, do you thin(Clik) you (Clik)ould help me in a certain (Clik)Quest?” Kodoz nodded to the matriarch, who then told him his j ob. Your tas(Clik) is to (Clik)ill the blac<klik> infiltrators from our rivaling (Clik)lan and remove seven of them. Then I re<click>quire 8 gallons of your fresh water. We <click>ant make our own purified water, and need your help. Do you a<click>ccept this tas(Clik)?” Kodoz nodded once more and asked where he could find these infiltrators. The matriarch said “Loo(Clik) in the (Clik)averns near the town of Wind” Nodding assent for the final Kodoz bowed, and recalled to the entrance of wind. “Kal Ort Por” As his new surroundings came into view he looked around. All seemed quiet and peaceful, and no trace of monsters near the entrance. He walked slowly down one of the numerous pathways between rock outcroppings and still saw nothing. Suddenly his hunters instincts told him there was something here. He slowly opened his pack and removed his two tribal spears, putting one in each hand. The attack came from behind and from the left respectively. Parrying the blows with his spears he started a furious battle of skills, the first one to make a mistake died. Kodoz was blocking at a ridiculous speed that was nearly too fast to follow. He was in the middle of both of them and was then the long end of one the spears splintered, shortening his reach with that spear, making the infiltrator be able to get within closer range. As he deflected blow after blow he realized that he would tire and be killed if he didn’t go on the offensive. So he grabbed the splintered spear and threw it hurtling at an extreme speed and force through the Solen in front of him. It impaled him and he slammed into an approaching Infiltrator impaling it as well, and then it lodged in the rocks, with two twitching Solens gored on the spear. He had lost his defensiveness from the one behind him while doing this and took a nasty blow to his shoulder. It felt like a rock had hit his clavicle, and he went down with a gasp of pain. The Solen Infiltrator made a wordless hiss at him and leaped to squash the life out of him, saying the one word “DIE!” and Kodoz twisted his remaining spear straight up when the infiltrator started its descent and muttered “You first!” as the infiltrator saw its demise hurtling towards it it shrieked in an almost human wail of despair. Then it was silent. Kodoz yanked the spear from out of the infiltrator. Kodoz had killed 3 of his 7 that were required. He turned at a sudden noise and saw a new infiltrator approaching, alone. Kodoz got over confident and didn’t realize the connection between the infiltrators larger proportions compared to the ones he had just dispatched. Parrying a blow of it with the spear it shattered the spear in its first hit. Then advancing with frightening speed the Infiltrator started a flurry of swinging claws and legs, and it was all Kodoz could do to stay one step ahead of them, a few times having his armor get nicked and not him, once it missed his throat by mere inches. He unfortunately realized it had backed him into a dead end, so Kodoz waited for the strongest straight blow at his head and ducked the second before he would have been hit, causing the arm to get lodged into the mountain. Looking at his rip in the armor chest piece he pulled out his maul. “You just had to go and tear up my favorite suit of armor didn’t you? Well now you’ll pay for it in spades.” The Infiltrator cringed as Kodoz swung in an extremely powerful overhead swing, knocking the infiltrator senseless, hitting with such force that the infiltrators arm ripped off and stayed lodged in the mountain while the infiltrator shrieked and squealed in mortal terror as the fury of the valiant Dragoon Phalynx was meted out upon its form. He beat it till the squealing stopped, leaving an acid covered pulp of Infiltrator. Putting away his acid covered maul he thought ‘only 3 left to go’. He was sure the shrieks and squeals would bring more infiltrators to its aid, but it didn’t so Kodoz once again wandered through the paths. This time they had been ready and as he passed a crossroads one from each side and in front of him surged forward viciously as they charged towards him. Kodoz immediately flipped backwards to his hands and then handsprung to his feet, opening his quiver and cocking his heavy crossbow. He notched, cocked, aimed, and shot five times at the Infiltrator closest to him, and the bolts flew from the crossbow with such momentum they went completely through the infiltrator. One in the head, 3 in the torso and 1 in the arms. 2 left for his quest. By now the 2 left had reached him so he dropped his crossbow and brandished his kryss, prepared to thrust instantly. They were a bit faster than he gave them credit for though as they knocked the kryss from his grip and then the other slipped a leg under Kodoz’ leg, pulling suddenly knocking Kodoz flat on his back. They then mercilessly attacked him, as he used his last weapon he had with him. Snatching the Deadly poison carrying potion he grabbed his empty bottle and shattered it, and sliced into the two solens, and then tossed his poison potions where they broke and seeped into the Infiltrators wounds. The Infiltrators weren’t affected for some reason. This was not good. Then one of them slowed its attacks and Kodoz had his opening, rolling back and stood up and looked at them. Apparently it just took a few minutes to affect an insectile race. Having reached his quota he went to the tavern. ‘Kal Ort Por’. He arrived at the tavern and purchased his eight gallons of fresh water. Casting again ‘Kal Ort Por’ he appeared at the entrance to the solen hole and ran inside. He made his way to the Solen Matriarch who applauded his abilities and his skills for the arts of war. She then asked him to pour the eight gallons of water into their huge collection vats. Having done this the Matriarch spoke with him again, to tell him his reward. “For (Clik)ompleting the tas(Clik) I shall ma(Clik)e you a friend and (Clik)olleague of the Red Solen (Clik)olony. I <click>an additionally <click>hange up to 200 units of Zoogi Fungus for (Clik)onversion to one hundred (Clik)harges of the (Clik)oveted translo(Clik)ation powders. I (Clik)an also reward you for you’re a(Clik)tions against the (Clik)riminal Bla(Clik) Solen Infiltrators. Your (Clik)ash reimbursement for this grueling tas(Clik) will (Clik)eep you (Clik)ontented on a job well done. The (Clik)olony is indebted to you and your dedi(Clik)ation to (Clik)ir(Clik)umstan(Clik)es of your (Clik)uest. Than(Clik) you good (Clik)night (Clik)odoz.” With that she gave him 100 translocation powders and 800 gold coins. Not bad for a few minutes work. Not bad at all…

Edited May 10, 2005 by kodoz

[kodoz]

Using the high ground to his advantage he surveyed the situation. There was a bevy of birds near him, so he had to be exceedingly careful not to make them fly away, giving away his position. As Kodoz silently dropped from the tree above he landed with an inaudible impact noise, rolling to the side as he fell to cushion the impact of a 30 foot drop. Even then Kodoz felt a slightly sore spot forming but at least he hadn’t broken anything. Yet. As he silently undid his bow and pulled an arrow from his quiver he lined up his first target skeleton. He notched, drew, aimed directly at the skull and fired. As the skeletons skull burst into many bony fragments the other skeletons looked for the shooter. Kodoz however was able to camouflage himself from view in ways the skeletons didn’t know of. As he circled the entrance to blood dungeon he started laying down a barrage of arrows, taking out one after another after another skeleton. When he was within reach of the entrances he dove inside leaving the few remaining skeletons outside. He hit something inside the entrance, and was thence able to recognize he had just crushed an imp. Shrugging his shoulders to himself he wiped the imps blood off his armor and continued a bit further. He peeked around the corner and jumped back from seeing The Collector of Souls. Kodoz did not want to mess with a Balron right now, especially not the mother of all Balrons, so Kodoz was extremely cautious passing the open hallway as he didn’t want to get slaughtered by the towering undead daemon. He turned a corner and was instantly hit in the face by a liquid formed fist, catching him unawares, knocking him to the ground. As he got up he had one glance at it before he had to dodge and now knew it was a blood elemental he was facing and he knew their abilities. Kodoz was trying to become the only warrior in all of Sosarian history who has taken out every kind of monster that exists. The blood elemental was one of those he had yet to kill and as such he decided to take it down. He decided that against a liquid based monster a glacial staff would work best. It did. As he swung the large staff in a flurry of almost too fast for the eye to see movements, it was dealing some pretty massive damage out. Despite this he still couldn’t underestimate it. He had to keep it reacting and never give it another chance. An imp turned the corner and cast “Kal Vas Flam” on him and Kodoz braced as he felt like he was burning, and he took a few quick steps toward the imp and kicked it into the wall, where it slumped down into unconsciousness. His momentary distraction gave the blood elemental an opening, and suddenly Kodoz had no air, drowning in the creatures viscous blood formed body, struggling to get free. He was unable to do anything to hurt the creature from the inside, when he got an idea. He ferociously fought one hand out of its substance and grabbed a greater explosion potion and hurled it into the empty hallway of before. Kodoz was running out of air fast, but smiled as he saw his savior coming to him. It was, of course, the Balron. Balrons are incredibly strong but incredibly stupid. The Balron couldn’t see Kodoz inside the blood elemental and assumed the blood elemental was attacking him. The balron tagged the Blood elemental with one hit, knocking Kodoz’ head out for a half second, giving him another breath of fresh, and oxygen filled air. The balron was merciless in its assault as it hit the blood elemental one after another after another hit, and when it cast lightning Kodoz gritted his teeth and closed his eyes. As the electricity hit the blood elemental it traveled throughout the creatures substance, shocking Kodoz badly but slaying the blood elemental. As Kodoz hit the floor shaking he gasped for air, and then he saw a shadow. The Collector of Souls looked down at him like some horrid evil observer, Kodoz was still having slight muscle spasms from the electricity and was in no mood nor readiness to fight something like him. Kodoz, knowing how stupid a Balron is, with an excruciating pain, notched drew and aimed with his bow and shot. A high pitched piercing wail came from the Balron and knew he hit his mark. The shriek was the Balrons battlecry, as it charged towards the other wall where the arrow was now at. As Kodoz started to stand and go he growled in pain as he fell onto his knees, realizing one of his wrists was shattered, and he was feeling like he was about to black out. He had to keep himself conscious as he stumbled down a hallway muttering expletives and oaths, and getting to the entrance he made a makeshift sling by tying multiple bandages together and went towards the moongate with all the speed he could muster…

[kodoz]

Do you enjoy any of the following stories? Do you think they aren’t good, or too violent? How would you like an RP story focused on your Ultima Online Character? Tired of bit parts in others stories? Do you enjoy other peoples stories? Here is your chance! For a short time Kodoz shall be taking RP story requests and will make an RP story about YOUR CHARACTER!!! So send Kodoz your story requests through his ICQ at 84763321 for your personal story! Remember to include in your request what type of character you have, what the name is, what genre/style RP story you, what you wish to fight or do, and your favorite attacks/magics and in a day or so you will have a story of your character! Hurry though because Kodoz is ready now and may be busy soon so act now! This is a completely free deal and Kodoz is eager to try a new story.

[kodoz]

Forgot the contact information. To contact Kodoz with your request send it through icq to #84763321. Thanks!!!

[kodoz]

As Kodoz slowly edged to the corner of the swamp castles wall, he found himself outnumbered as usual. Somewhat of a loner, Valiant Kodoz was grateful for his allies in the alliance. He was thinking of whom could be in time to help him if things went badly. He didn’t expect it to, as the odds were only 13 to 1. Better than he was used to. Unfortunately his foes were vast and varied. He lured them to the corner by using rocks and tapping noises, and then bashed in the mounted savages teeth and facemask with his war mace. 12 to 1. After seeing the fate of their comrades they realized that obviously something was amiss. And they weren’t so stupid as to ignore the response of the first to turn the corner. By this time Kodoz had replaced his mace with a bow and arrow, and peeked around the corner, noticing a new enemy he didn’t see before, and took out two more enemies. 11 to 1, the 11th being this strange new foe. Kodoz was forced to ignore it right now though as some of the original enemies attempted to sneak up on him, but he had noticed their approach and waited for the exact moment, lashing out with his kryss dismembering one and killing two. 8 to 1. In a matter of seconds Kodoz had eliminated 6 of his enemies. Now the best ones were left. A Juggernaut, 2 Juka warriors, 2 mages, 2 Solen warriors, and this new and yet familiar foe… Kodoz readied his Greater Explosion Potions, charging them and knocking out both mages and a Juka with them, at the same time stabbing the other Juka with his poisoned dagger. 4 to 1. The Juggernaut was immensely powerful, but also ridiculously slow, so he ranked lowest on the threat list. The Solen warriors were a different matter. Strong, fast, and deadly. They worked together battering and pounding at Kodoz’ armor, waiting for an opening to inflict a killing blow. They should have been watching more carefully, as when they started to spit acid at Kodoz the warrior dodged suddenly and they both started to get eaten by each others acid. By now the odds were 2 to 1. But they had the advantage of an unknown and unfamiliar foe for Kodoz. The Juggernaut had finally reached Kodoz now, and Kodoz adeptly slipped his final 5 Greater explosions beneath the Juggernauts armor and he threw himself to the side and covered himself. An extremely loud and horrible noise of explosions and screaming filled the air for a split second, before ceasing. This new enemy was a completely unknown quantity. It resembled a formidable monster called a plague beast, but it was much larger and probably much more powerful. As Kodoz circled the amorphous blob of acid and debris, it seemed to regard him with more curiosity than with hostility. Kodoz was unsure of whether or not he should get a preemptive attack, when suddenly the monster lunged to the left, devouring a fleeing jackrabbit, leaving Kodoz bewildered. What was going on here? Did he just see the blob EAT the rabbit? Kodoz was now very interested in not going one on one in close quarters with this creature. But he couldn’t very well retreat and have some unwitting travelers’ death upon his head for not removing this monster. As he readied his bow and arrows, he realized now why it was familiar. This was one of the supposedly extinct creatures from a past time. A plague beast lord; the creature that was thought to have been wiped out in the liberation of Brittania cities, carrier of the infamous plague beast mutation core. Apparently he had unwittingly come upon this fearsome beast after it was once more awoken. He had to warn his comrades and allies. He saw the creature sort of quiver, and finely honed instincts made him dive and roll away, but even that wasn’t fast enough, the creature shot an extremely acidic spray at where he was, missing him except for one of his feet. He felt excruciating pain and did all he could to ignore it, looking down at the acid burns where his sandals and armor had gaps in them, and he saw his armor and sandal dissolving under the volatile fumes. He barely had time to bandage his leg before the creature quivered again, and expecting it to spray he dove out of the bare hard soil and into the mud to his right. He managed to completely escape what he predicted was another spray but the creature lunged forward where he had been standing, and was now less than 4 feet away. He could smell the horrible stink of the sulphurous acid that composed the creature, and noticed that not only did the creatures acid burn what it attacked it was scarring the ground and leaving a trail of smoking mud and evaporating swamp water. Kodoz quickly thought through his remaining options. With one injured foot and a considerable amount of energy already consumed from fighting the other creatures he didn’t know for sure whether or not he could win if he stayed. He could either run, die, fight, recall, or send a pigeon for help. His sense of responsibility towards any innocent who might encounter this creature quickly removed the options of running or recalling. He most certainly didn’t want to die. So he had to decide whether to fight with all his skill and might or to chance a pigeon that may or may not be answered in time to help him and may distract him so much that it leaves him vulnerable. He chose the only one he could. Both. He came up out of the mud with a noise and notched, drew, aimed, and fired an arrow at it and then sprinted into the nearby swamp castle, flinging open the door and shutting and locking it. He hurriedly wrote out a note that he attached to his pigeon and sent it away. He was glad it didn’t have hands and it couldn’t open the door. That was when he heard a hissing. He looked at the doors as they started to smoke and dissolve, flow like liquid and give him a glimpse of the creatures flesh. He now realized that his skill and attacks alone could keep him alive till help arrived, and nothing he tried to block the creature with would hold it anymore. The creature burned through the first set of doors, and Kodoz hurriedly slammed shut the second set of doors, where in horror he saw it was dissolving far faster. The creature now realized how much acid it needed to burn through metal and stone. Kodoz realized it would be at least 2 minutes before any help was arriving. The only people Kodoz knew he could always count on were at least 1 and a half minutes distance by pigeon from his current location. Suddenly Kodoz got an idea. He hurriedly poisoned a piece of ham and threw it at the creature, and waited in hope it would stop the monster. But it was of no use. The beast was coming, and only death would prevent it from making a meal out of its opponent. Kodoz quickly pulled out his war mace and with all his strength swung it right at the gelatinous aberration. With a liquid sound it sank into the creatures’ body, and Kodoz barely had enough strength to pry it out of the hideous mass of ooze. He stared at his mace as the acid slowly ate through it. He now realized how lucky he was that it had sprayed him with lower level acid at first, and not the acid it was using now. He quickly lost all presumptions of winning this fight. But he didn’t have to. All he had to do was stave off its malicious relentless attacks for 45 more seconds. He felt like it was 45 Minutes. He suddenly had an idea of how to slow it down a bit. He ran behind a support pillar and watched the creature eat through it. Kodoz took off running, as the ceiling fell down on top of it. He couldn’t hear any hissing; didn’t see any movement in the rubble; he prayed it was dead. But the creature was faster than he thought. The attack came from the left, and was totally unexpected, knocking Kodoz up and into a stone wall, driving the breath from his lungs. He only had to wait for 30 more seconds. The creature advanced on him, as Kodoz struggled to rise. He fought past the pain and weakness, and feebly stood up. His back was at least badly bruised and one of his ribs was on fire, possibly broken. He knew he had no chance at evading this attack, in his condition. He whispered slight curses and gasps of pain, as he rued the day he thought he could defeat it. 15 seconds more. But now the abomination was within arms length, and it quivered, and Kodoz went limp, falling under the attack, and had 10 seconds to wait. He was now defenseless. Nothing he had could so much as slow it down. He gritted his teeth and clenched his fists, as the acidic pseudopodia lunged at him. And suddenly it stopped. Why would it have stopped? That’s when he noticed the creature had suddenly turned to an icy color. He thanked the gods that he was wrong about how long it would be before help arrived. He looked up at his friend and colleague, Ange Sans Ailes, who was holding a hand out to him. He took the hand and made sure not to touch Ange where he had the acid on him. He was a mess. Half his armor was dissolving; he had nasty acid burns on his side and foot. He went to the creature and said “why did it change color?” Ange only shook her head, and Kodoz decided he’d have to give this one much thought. As Ange said the words “Vas Rel Por” a gate to PGoH Olympus opened and Kodoz went through with Ange just behind him. He thanked Ange, who replied “Hey, its what friends are for. Lets go get you some fresh armor” And with that and “Vas Rel Por” they went to the city of Britain to buy some new armor.